Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/378

 Therefore when man changed from the state of innocence in which he was created, by the opening of a lower plane of his life, there was no way that the Creator could come to him except through those who had preserved the primitive state of innocence, and had become angels, or through some finite human. To reach fallen man, God then used the human of an angel, through which He appeared, spoke, and instructed. Such a one is called "the angel of the Lord," which is exemplified many times in the Word. Thus Jehovah appeared to the Jews. Because Jehovah had not then clothed Himself with the glorified Human in which He now dwells, and by which He can approach and be seen, it was said "There shall no man see Me, and live."

Now it was God's purpose from the beginning of creation to take the degrees below Him upon Himself, so that He could reach creation in any degree not merely by mediate influx, but by immediate influx. This design was the central purpose in assuming the Human, and it was fulfilled in the incarnation and the glorification of the Lord. The Creator having put forth a human form in the image of His own, it was possible for Him to clothe Himself with such a form. By means of the Virgin Mary as an ultimate and the spiritual world as an intermediate, He clothed